believe in yourself / I was born for this review

WHERE DID I RECEIVE THIS?: HarperCollinsNZ sent this to me in exchange for an honest review!

GENRE: Contemporary

For Angel Rahimi, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world.

Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare.

Because that’s the problem with dreaming – eventually, inevitably, real life arrives with a wake-up call. And when Angel and Jimmy are unexpectedly thrust together, they will discover just how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.

Alice Oseman’s books have a certain tone to them, and it’s in every one of her books. They all feel truly accurate to the lives of teenagers. The things they talk about and do, are all things I once did and I’m sure others did too. She has a way of making her books so true to life that I would genuinely throw them at any teenager because there’s something about them, that I think they’ll love.

But, for me, unfortunately, I just can’t get into her books. I started Radio Silence and read about 150 pages before giving up, and I only just made it through this one. I find that while I can see that I would relate to these books when I was younger, I just personally can’t now. Perhaps a little bit of it comes from that it’s written in the first person, and I don’t feel or think that way anymore so I can’t connect as well to the characters.

Though it really should be mentioned that this book deals with some important topics. First off, it has a Hijabi Muslim main character, Angel Rahimi, I can’t even think, off the top of my head, a young adult novel that has that. This characters life revolves around a band (as so many of our teenage years did, Pierce the Veil, anyone?) and the other main character? they are, Jimmy Kaga-Ricci, a biracial gay trans musician and a member of The Ark. The two main characters alone carry more representation for young adults everywhere than most books have in whole.

This book really deals with the idea, that you SHOULD invest time in things that matter to you, and that it’s a worthwhile endeavour. I really loved this idea as I find investing time in reading and youtube can sometimes feel like a waste of time, and this book shows you that it isn’t.

This book also had excellent anxiety representation in my mind and showcased what it can be like. It really didn’t hold anything back and for that, I’m so thankful. It definitely feels relatable in that sense.

Overall you can see I had alot of positive thoughts for this book, even though I only gave it an average review. I could see how important this novel was, and what it would mean for so many people, even if I couldn’t get invested in the characters or plot. And I don’t think my disinterest came from it being a bad book, more so, just not the right one for me.